• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.125-131
• /
• 2001

A long-term variation of electrode polarization in the MCFC has been analyzed successfully using a single cell with a Au, $CO_2/O_2$ reference electrode Four different cells with different components were operated and their electrode polarizations were analyzed. As published in the literatures, the cathode polarization was larger than that of the anode. The more stable operation of a single cell with the Al-coated cell frame up to 6,000hrs indicates that the corrosion at the cell frame, particularly wet seal area, plays an important role to determine the lifetime of a MCFC. At the initial stage of the cell operation, the voltage of the cell using a cathode stabilized by the $LiCoO_2$ coating was relatively low due to the high cathode polarization. As the cell was operated and the stabilized cathode was lithiated sufficiently, the cathode polarization decreased and the cell voltage was recovered. It was observed that the voltage of the cell using the $Li_2CO_3/Na_2CO_3$ electrolyte fluctuated with operation time and the cathode polarization fluctuated along with the cell voltage quite similarly. Although the mechanisms of the voltage fluctuation were not clear yet, the results imply that the voltage fluctuation was related with a reaction in the cathode side. After testing every single cell, the cathode polarization increased with the steep decrease in the cell voltage. Thus, the cathode should be improved in order to develop more durable MCFC.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.43 no.2 s.285
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2006

Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EB-PVD) was applied to fabricate a thin film YSZ electrolyte with large area on the porous NiO-YSZ anode substrate. Microstructural and thermal stability of the as-deposited electrolyte film was investigated via SEM and XRD analysis. In order to obtain an optimized YSZ film with high stability, both temperature and surface roughness of substrate were varied. A structurally homogeneous YSZ film with large area of $12\times12\;cm^2$ and high thermal stability up to $900^{\circ}C$ was fabricated at the substrate temperature of $T_s/T_m$ higher than 0.4. The smoother surface was proved to give the better film quality. Precise control of heating and cooling rate of the anode substrate was necessary to obtain a very dense YSZ electrolyte with high thermal stability, which affords to survive after post heat treatment for fabrication a cathode layer on it as well as after long time operation of solid oxide fuel cell at high temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.670-676
• /
• 2016

Hydrogen town in Republic of Korea was established in 2013. Hydrogen as a byproduct produced by various processes of factories is used in hydrogen town facilities. As cell performance is affected by contaminations in fuel gas, various standards about impurities of fuel have been determined by many countries. This study shows performance degradation of single cell with impurities concentrations. Traces of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$)can cause considerable cell performance losses. For comparing the performances by poisoning of CO, acceleration test, I-V curve, constant current are performed. Both the CO and $H_2S$ poisoning rate are a function of their concentration. With the higher concentrations the higher poisoning rates are observed. And, it was confirmed that, oxidation behavior and side reaction generation are not affected. Under the lower $H_2S$ concentration condition, the poisoning rate is much higher than that of CO because of its different adsorption intensity. It can be possible that the result of this study can be used for enacting regulation as a baseline data.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.520-524
• /
• 2011

The properties of manufactured SOFC unit cell using decalcomania method were investigated. The decalcomania method that used in ceramics, dish, vessel and etc. was the very simple process. The SOFC unit cell manufacturer using decalcomania method is very simple process. Especially, the decalcomania method was the most suitable manufacturing method for the segmented type SOFC. The cathode, prevent diffusion layer (PDL), anode functional layer (AFL) and electrolyte were manufactured using decalcomania method on porous anode support. The sintered electrolyte at 1450$^{\circ}C$ for 2 h using decalcomania method was very dense, and the thickness was about 10 ${\mu}m$. The cathode, the PDL and the AFL were manufactured using decalcomania method and was sintered at 1250$^{\circ}C$ for 2 h, and the sintered electrodes were the porous. As a result, with humidified hydrogen used as fuel, the cell with an 15 ${\mu}m$-thick AFL exhibited maximum power densities of 0.246, 0.364, 0.504W/$cm^2$ at 700, 750, 800$^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.531-538
• /
• 2019

As the performance of PEMFC has been improved, the water and heat generated by reaction have increased so, the water and heat management of PEMFC is becoming more important. In this study, hydrogen recirculation was applied as the water management technique and the effect of recirculation flow rate, purge interval and duration on the performance of PEMFC was investigated. Anode pressure, fuel humidity and utilization, water discharge amount was measured to check the effect of purge conditions on performance. As the recirculation flow rate has increased, the performance of PEMFC became lower due to decrease of anode outlet pressure. According to the purge conditions, instantaneous voltage drop has occurred because of accumulated water. In frequent purge conditions, the performance of PEMFC gradually decreased due to fuel humidity control failure. Stable performance and high fuel utilization was achieved on this work by analyzing the effect of purge conditions.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.277-281
• /
• 2013

A dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) inoculated with Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and supplemented with lactate as an organic fuel was employed in this study. Biofilm formed on the anodic electrode was examined by scanning electron microscopy, revealing that the amount of biofilm was increased with repeated cycles of MFC operation. The maximum current production was notably increased from the first cycle ($1,310.0{\pm}22.3mA/m^2$) to the final cycle ($1,539.4{\pm}25.8mA/m^2$) of MFC run. Coulombic efficiency was also increased from $89.4%{\pm}0.2%$ to $98.9%{\pm}0.5%$. We suggest that the current production efficiency was related to the biomass of biofilm formed on the electrode, which was also increased as the MFC run was repeated. It was also found that D. desulfuricans, which colonized on the electrode, produced filaments or nano-pili. Nano-pili were effective for the attachment of cells on the electrode. In addition, the nano-pili provided a cell-to-cell link and stimulated the development of thicker electroactive biofilm, and therefore, they facilitated electron transfer to the anode. Conclusively, the biofilm of D. desulfuricans enhanced the current production in the MFC as a result of effective attachment of cells and electron transfer from the cell network to the electrode.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.659-666
• /
• 2019

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) generate electricity by electrochemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen. PEMFCs are expected to alternate electric power generator using fossil fuels with various advantages of high power density, low operating temperature, and environmental-friendly products. PEMFCs have widely been used in a number of applications such as fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and stationary fuel cell systems. However, there are remaining technical issues, particularly the long-term durability of each part of fuel cells. Degradation of a carbon supported-platinum catalyst in the anode and cathode follows various mechanistic origins in different fuel cell operating conditions, and thus accelerated stress test (AST) is suggested to evaluate the durability of electrocatalyst. In this article, comparable protocols of the AST durability test are intensively explained.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.423-429
• /
• 2008

This work was carried out to improve the performance of anodic electrocatalysts in direct ethanol fuel cell(DEFC). PtRu and $Pt_5Ru_4M$(M= Ni, Sn, Mo and W) electrocatalysts were prepared by using a $NaBH_4$ reduction method. Alloy crystal structure and particle size of electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The XRD analysis of the electrocatalysts revealed that the face-centered cubic(fcc) peaks shifted to slightly higher diffraction angles when third metals were added. Average size of the uniform particles was observed to be approximately $3{\sim}3.5\;nm$ from the TEM image. The electrochemical measurements were carried out in the solution 1M $H_2SO_4$ and 1M $C_2H_5OH$ at room temperature. Cyclic-voltammogram results showed that $Pt_5Ru_4W$ electrocatalyst exhibited much higher current density for ethanol oxidation of $2.73\;mA/cm^2$ than PtRu electrocatalyst of $0.73\;mA/cm^2$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.189-192
• /
• 2014

Yttria-stablized zirconia (YSZ) is the most commonly used electrolyte material, but the reduction in working temperature leads to insufficient ionic conductivity. Ceria based electrolytes (GDC) are more attractive in terms of conductivity at low temperature, but these materials are well known to be reducible at very low oxygen partial pressure. The reduction of electrolyte resistivity is necessary to overcome cell performance losses. So, thin YSZ/GDC bilayer technology seems suitable for decreasing the electrolyte resistance at lower operating temperatures. Bilayer electrolytes composed of a galdolinium-doped $CeO_2$ ($Ce_{0.9}Gd_{0.1}O_{1.95}$, GDC) layer and yttria-stabilized $ZrO_2$ (YSZ) layer with various thicknesses were deposited by RF sputtering and E-beam evaporation. The bilayer electrolytes were deposited between porous Ni-GDC anode and LSM cathode for anode-supported single cells. Thin film structure and surface morphology were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), using $CuK{\alpha}$-radiation in the range of 2ce morphol$^{\circ}C$. The XRD patterns exhibit a well-formed cubic fluorite structure, and sharp lines of XRD peaks can be observed, which indicate a single solid solution. The morphology and size of the prepared particles were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The performance of the cells was evaluated over $500{\sim}800^{\circ}C$, using humidified hydrogen as fuel, and air as oxidant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.34-43
• /
• 2014

The reformer system is a method for hydrogen production from hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas under high temperature environment($about{\sim}1,000^{\circ}C$). The premixed swirl burner with mixing swirler and combustion swirler designed to deliver fuel cell electric output from 0.5 kW to 1.5 kW. Premixed swirl burner experiments using natural gas and mixture of natural gas and anode off gas were carried out to analyse flame patterns and stability by equivalence ratio respectively. The results show that the stable swirl flame can be established for all cases of fuels type using the premixed swirl burner. The swirl flame had a wide stability region and it showed very low CO(50 ppm) and $NO_x$(20 ppm) emission at different fuel type and various equivalence ratio conditions. The operating range of premixed swirl burner for stable swirl flame is found to exist between equivalence ratio of 0.70 to 0.90 for turn down ratio of 3:1.